Abstract Marine protected areas (MPAs) have proven to be a valuable tool for both promoting the sustainable use of marine resources and long-term biodiversity conservation outcomes. Targets for marine protection under the Convention on Biological Diversity have seen rapid growth in MPAs globally, with progress judged using targets for total area protected rather than evaluating growth based on the capacity to protect biodiversity. The value of a MPA network to biodiversity conservation depends on a range of attributes of both individual MPAs and portfolios of MPAs, which are not captured by simple area-based targets. Therefore, a clear and efficient set of metrics are needed to effectively evaluate progress towards building MPA networks, considering the representation and adequacy of protection for biodiversity. We developed a universally applicable set of metrics that can evaluate network structure in relation to its capacity to conserve marine biodiversity. These metrics combine properties of effective individual MPAs with metrics for their capacity to function collectively as a network. To demonstrate the value of these metrics, we apply them to the Australian MPA network, the largest in the world. Collectively, the indicators suggest that while Australia has made significant progress in building a representative and well-structured MPA network, the level of protection offered to marine biodiversity is generally low, with insufficient coverage of no-take MPAs across many bioregions. The metrics reveal how the current value of the MPA network could be greatly increased by reducing the prevalence of multi-use zones that allow extractive activities known to negatively impact biodiversity.

中文翻译：

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衡量海洋保护的进展：一套评估海洋保护区网络强度的新指标

摘要 海洋保护区 (MPA) 已被证明是促进海洋资源可持续利用和长期生物多样性保护成果的宝贵工具。《生物多样性公约》下的海洋保护目标在全球海洋保护区快速增长，进展是使用受保护总面积的目标来判断的，而不是根据保护生物多样性的能力来评估增长。MPA 网络对生物多样性保护的价值取决于单个 MPA 和 MPA 组合的一系列属性，这些属性并没有被简单的基于区域的目标所捕获。因此，考虑到生物多样性保护的代表性和充分性，需要一套清晰有效的指标来有效评估建立 MPA 网络的进展。我们开发了一套普遍适用的指标，可以评估网络结构与其保护海洋生物多样性的能力有关。这些指标将有效的单个 MPA 的属性与其作为网络共同运作的能力的指标相结合。为了证明这些指标的价值，我们将它们应用于世界上最大的澳大利亚 MPA 网络。总体而言，这些指标表明，虽然澳大利亚在建立具有代表性和结构良好的 MPA 网络方面取得了重大进展，但对海洋生物多样性的保护水平普遍较低，许多生物区域的禁捕 MPA 覆盖范围不足。